Plans to dump millions of tonnes of waste at a quarry have come under fire.

Humberside-based firm Wastewise has applied to Bradford Council to use Buck Park Quarry in Whalley Lane, Denholme, as a landfill site.

The application is also for permission to quarry a further million cubic metres of sandstone, some of which would be used in building work on the site which Wastewise says is needed to address a severe shortage of landfill tips in the area.

But Conservatives have raised concerns over the proposals, which would see up to 250,000 tonnes of household, commercial and industrial waste brought to the quarry annually for ten years.

They are worried about:

Access to the site;

The impact of increased numbers of lorries travelling through the centre of Denholme;

The management of the tip;

A need for extensive public consultation about the plans.

As part of the scheme, Wastewise has suggested improvements to the dangerous junction between Whalley Lane and the A629 from Halifax to Keighley.

It wants to block off the existing road at Lane Top which meets the main road at a very tight angle for traffic trying to turn left towards Denholme and build a new junction with two lanes.

Bradford Councillor Simon Cooke (Con, Bingley Rural) said he was happy with the planned improvements to the junction but would like to see a weight restriction placed on Whalley Lane to stop heavy lorries using it other than for access to the site.

And he is concerned about the growth in the volume of traffic rumbling through Denholme.

"If we're going to allow this we are going to have to do something about looking at the whole two-and-a-half miles of the A629 from Manywells Heights to the Halifax border," said Coun Cooke.

"We need to have a good look at road safety and traffic management. I was delivering some leaflets on the main road in Denholme recently before the Council elections with my son who is eight and we gave up because I was terrified. It's frightening being on those narrow pavements and big lorries going past."

Coun Cooke said he also wanted reassurances that measures would be taken to ensure that residents were not plagued by flies or disturbed by excessive noise, as has been reported by people living close to the tip at nearby Manywells, and that there was no leakage into the local water network.

And he has said he was worried about how the quarrying and tipping operations would be kept separate. Wastewise says the site, which has a capacity of 2.4 million cubic metres, is needed because the Manywells landfill tip will be full by the end of 1999.

A spokesman said: "At the present time there is a severe shortfall of available and suitable disposal sites in Bradford and within the neighbouring districts of Calderdale and Kirklees.

"This scheme will ensure that the wastes generated in the area are disposed of locally and that the existing quarry site is reinstated to its former condition and capable of beneficial after-use."

The application is not expected to be considered by Bradford Council planners until the autumn.

It is also due to be discussed by Denholme Town Council next Tuesday.

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